Time Twister
by Storyteller09
Summary: A five year old kid is running around the SGC. But how did he get in? How does he know everyone? And more importantly, what's on the videotape he's carrying? Set post-Continuum, major spoilers. T is overcautious.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: To understand any of this, you'll **have** to know about Stargate: Continuum. I just watched it and this story hit me, so I thought I'd write it down. It's in Mitchell's POV and happens right after the team gets back from Ba'al's extraction. I know the past timeline is a bit wonky, but that's attributed to not knowing how old Mitchell is. By the way, this is not in my Sang Real and Star Girl universe so none of that stuff relates in any way.

**Time Twister**

"Are you Col. Mitchell?" A small, quivery voice interrupted my walk down the halls. I slowed and glanced around. We had just returned from the exceedingly boring extraction of Ba'al from his last clone. It was very simple and hadn't really lived up to my expectations. I had stayed behind in the gate room to report the success to General Landry and the others had went on to the infirmary for a post-mission check. I was trying to catch up when the voice of what sounded like a small boy stopped me in my tracks.

"Yes." I answered cautiously, looking around to find the source. From out of a small niche, a small, brown-haired boy, barely five years old, came hurtling out at me. I didn't even have time to react before he embraced me in a tight hug. "Whoa there! Hey, where'd you come from?"

"Not yet. I'm supposed to tell you all at once. I need to talk to SG-1 and both generals: Landry and O'Neill." The boy insisted, not letting go. I frowned, perplexed. This was weird. After careful consideration, I came to a decision and reached up to tap my radio.

"Can you call Gen. Landry, Gen. O'Neill, Dr. Jackson, Col. Carter, and Teal'c to the briefing room? We have a small situation." I asked. After receiving confirmation I looked down at the clingy little boy. I finally gave in and scooped him up, carrying him in my arms to the briefing room. "Don't suppose you'd tell me your name, huh?"

"Nope." He responded instantly. I now recognized a faint accent that sounded similar to my own. He sounded like he was from Texas or at least nearby. "Not supposed to until you're all there."

"Right." I sighed. And this day had started out so peacefully. Nothing had even gone wrong with the extraction. Somehow, with this mysterious young boy in tow, I knew it was going to get a lot more complicated. As I entered the room, everyone turned and stared at my small passenger. "Guess what I found?"

"Mitchell, why do you have a kid here and where did he come from?" O'Neill finally managed to spit out. I shrug.

"Not really sure why he's here. He won't tell me. Said we all had to be together before he'd say anything, including where he came from." I attempted to set the boy down in a chair, but he would have nothing of it. His arms tightened and he frowned deeply. Evidently I was to hold him. Once we're settled he turned to look over the room. "Now will you tell us?"

"Hi, Teal'c! And you're Gen. Landry and you're Gen. O'Neill. Oh, and you two are Dr. Jackson and Col. Carter. This is cool!" The boy finally smiled faintly as he announced the introductions as if he knew everyone. "And Vala must still be off-world, huh?"

"That's right." Jackson perked up at this display of knowledge. "How did you know?"

"This explains everything." He pulled out a VCR tape from somewhere in his clothes and handed it to me. I took it while Carter pulled up the small TV in the room. When she inserted the tape, the image that appeared shocked us all. There was an aged man smiling out at us. Somehow, he looked exactly like I would if I were fifteen years older. After a few seconds it hit me. He looked exactly like the man who had stood in the photograph with my great-grandfather, the captain of the Achilles. But that had been in 1939! The man cleared his throat.

"Hey… so you're all probably wondering who I am. Well, as Mitchell should have recognized, I go by the name Daniel Terrence Carter. I was a friend of his great-grandfather and helped escort the stargate to America on the Achilles. Of course, my real name is in fact Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell of the United States Air Force. And before Carter can say anything, yes, it is the year 1946. I'll explain. You see…" The man continued, telling us what had happened when we had first extracted Ba'al. Everyone listened in rapt attention as the story unfolded. Finally he concluded. "And so Sam sent me back in time. Only, we didn't have time to wait for flare that coincided with the right year before Quetesh came bursting in and killed almost everyone. Sam, Daniel, and I assume Teal'c, first prime to Ba'al, were shot dialing the closest time frame we could: 1929. I barely made it through and then I was alone. Stuck. I emerged in Giza in the year 1929 and spent the next ten years practicing my seamanship. I couldn't exactly keep the name Cameron Mitchell when my great-grandfather was going to be a Mitchell and I didn't want him to get any ideas, so I took an element of each of the team's names. Daniel fit the best in the time period and my middle initial is for the big guy. And that left Carter for my last name. When the time came, I signed on as a deckhand for the Achilles and managed to get aboard with a couple of the time period's machine guns. Ba'al came through, but this time I killed him and his Jaffa before they took five steps from the gate. So everything should have gone through without a hitch."

"Wow." I reacted as Landry paused the video. Now everyone was looking at me in awe. I had sacrificed my life to reset the timeline. "But how…?"

"You're supposed to watch the video, silly." The boy reminded us. I looked over at Landry and he nodded, un-pausing the tape.

"Now for the reasons that I'm recording this. Get ready, Carter, you're gonna have a ball chewing me out." The man looked down in preparation. Carter glanced over at me, already willing to blame me. "But I may as well say this, the Mitchell I am is not the same as the Mitchell I was, so don't bother trying to get mad at that me. He didn't do anything. I got married."

"Holy…" I trailed off, remembering the young boy in my lap. Surely he wasn't…?

"I made sure to get rid of all of the stuff so I couldn't corrupt the timeline, but when I got back from the Achilles, she was waiting. I swear I didn't mean to fall in love, it just happened. And I did make sure that she wasn't named Ride or Nixon or someone else that had a major impact on history later." He defended himself, fingering the small gold ring. "So that brings to this. I'd like to formally introduce you all to Adam Bryce Mitchell, my son. He's the one who brought you this tape. Would have stuck with Carter, but when my wife found out I'd been forced to change my name, she insisted that I give it to our son. She wouldn't stand for her son to not have his father's last name. And yes, I told her everything. She thought I was crazy. Then I predicted Pearl Harbor. It nearly tore us apart when she realized that I wasn't lying and she was furious that I didn't stop so many Americans being killed. But we talked it out and she realized how angry I was at the forced inaction. Then our lives got a whole lot more complicated. She found out she was pregnant."

"Ok, let's stop for a second here." I told them all, needing a minute to process this information. Landry obligingly paused the tape. I stared down at the boy I held in my arms. He looked up at me, smiled, and laid his head down on my shoulder. "So you're Adam? My son?"

"Kind of. Daddy always said it'd make your head hurt if you thought about it too long." Adam answered, smiling at the memory. I chuckled.

"Yep, that's me all right." I nodded, looking at the others. Sam was staring at Adam, completely fascinated by his existence.

"That doesn't explain…" Sam started. Adam just shook his head slowly.

"Daddy always said you and Daniel were the most curious people on the planet. Or even other planets. Col., can I go to other planets yet? You said maybe when I grow up and I'm gonna turn five next week." Adam announced proudly. I raised my eyebrows at this. This kid was only five? He seemed much more mature than that. And how did the me in the past know that Adam would be here? For that matter, how was Adam here? Adam watched my reaction and sighed. "All right, I'll wait. And you better listen to the rest of the tape now."

"Now for the part that's gonna make Sam go nuts. When Adam was born, he was a perfectly normal human boy. As he grew up, though, I noticed something very unusual about him. As soon as he could walk, he would disappear for small lengths of time, never even seeming to notice I was looking for him. Scared me real good. I finally asked him and he told me that he was bored and skipped the boring times. I finally came to a hypothesis. When I was in the alternate timeline, I was a grandfather paradox. I didn't exist because Ba'al had killed my great-grandpa on the Achilles. But when I fixed the timeline, I saved my grandfather and created another timeline identical to the one I came from. Now I figure that there's some type of temporal-spatial energy running through the universe and when I messed with all the timelines it got tangled up in me. And when I had a son, it somehow connected to him. You see, Adam can control time and space. That's how he's in your time and at the SGC giving you this video." My other self shrugged. "I figure Sam can tell you more once she has a chance to see what he can do. Meanwhile, I need you all to take care of him. See, the biggest reason that you'd be watching this video instead of talking to me is that something must have happened to me after I made this. Adam has instructions to find me right after the Ba'al extraction and give this to you. I need you to protect my son, please. He's our son, Mitchell. I've told him all the stories and everything about the stargate. He knows you. Please take care of him. Don't let anyone get a hold of him. He's smart. He may be only a four year-old, but he can already make full sentences and read. Don't patronize him and don't try to force him to use his abilities."

"Wow." I whispered. Adam let me go and hugged himself. I could see small tears start to form at the corners of his eyes. "What happened to your mom?"

"Daddy said that she died when I was born. I never knew her. He said I couldn't go back and see her, 'cuz that would make a par… paradox, that's it. He said that I would attract attention if I skipped stuff, so he told me to stay in one time as much as possible. He didn't know if anyone would notice in this time, but in that time, I would definitely stand out. So when the bad guys came, he grabbed the videotape, gave it to me, and told me to go. Like we planned, I went forward a week and found the house was gone. So I came here. I think Daddy's dead. Can I stay here?"

"Oh man." I looked around the room and noticed the sympathetic looks everyone was giving me. I'd gone from a happy bachelor who had just witnessed the end of the reign of evil in the galaxy to the father of a boy I'd never seen before, a boy that could control time like I could move an arm. Everything was going great, but now I had the son of another version of me looking to me for help… geez, I was right, this time stuff does make my head hurt. But Adam was my son, no matter what time; he deserved a father. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug, trying to comfort the distraught boy. "Look, I'm not your real dad, but I'll take care of you, got it? You'll be okay, promise."

"Thanks. I don't know what's on the rest of the tape. He said that it's for you and you only." Adam admitted. I nodded and looked at O'Neill for permission. He sighed and shrugged.

"Might as well. I'm sure you'll let us know if there's some warning on there." O'Neill spoke up, standing. We all stood, I to take care of one small fact: I was still holding Adam. After looking pointedly at Daniel, the man finally got the hint and came over.

"Hey. You mind if I hold you while Mitchell watches the rest of the tape?" Daniel offered, holding out his hands. Adam's face tightened and he considered it carefully. Finally he nodded.

"I guess so. Can you teach me Ancient? Daddy said you know tons of languages, especially the really cool ones. And I want to learn Azgard and Goa'uld… oh, and can I meet the Nox? They sound cool. Did you really ascend?" He offered his arms out and Daniel easily lifted him up, resting him on his hip. As Adam considered the possibilities of going with Daniel his face lit up. His smile grew more and more animated as he thought of all the 'cool' stuff there was to learn here. Had to have gotten that from his mother; I'd always been a bit lazy when it came to academics. I shook my head as the two walked out, followed closely by the others.

"Now to see what I have to say to myself… yep, that's confusing." I turned to the TV and pushed the play button on the remote. The man continued his story without hesitation.

"Now I've told Adam to ask everyone but my alternate version to leave now. If you haven't, Adam I need you to put this tape somewhere safe until they agree to let Mitchell, weird referring to myself by the way, and Mitchell alone watch this." He paused for a few seconds. "OK, they should be gone now, so.. hi me. Look, I know this is a ton to take in, but you and SG-1 are the only ones I trust to raise Adam right. And when I say right I mean not take advantage of the fact that he can alter any and all events of history or the future. Or hurt him. I know it's a lot to ask from a guy who has never even had a son, but no matter how you look at it, Adam is our son. We were very much alike, you and I, before Ba'al had to interfere. The only difference is that I'm a bit older than you. Oh, and I found a wife and had a son. I've lived my life out. If you're watching this part, something has definitely gone wrong. Very wrong. Chances are that some form of enemy has discovered there's something odd about my house and my total lack of existence before 1929. These guys at the time may not have computers, but after World War Two they're desperate and I haven't exactly kept the best lid on the technology Adam and I have 'acquired.' We haven't taken anything major, but I did need several things like this camcorder and tape, obviously. If ever our location was compromised, I told Adam to forward ahead one week and look for me. Had I survived we could meet up then. If not he was to find you immediately. The way I figure, I didn't go peacefully. If the bad guys are set on kidnapping Adam and me, then I will activate a failsafe explosive to wipe out both the attackers and all the future technology I have. Whether or not I'm inside the house at the time is irrelevant. They must think that we're dead or they won't stop looking. Normally I'd be more reluctant to leave Adam alone, but I trust myself, at least who I was back then, to take care of him. And I've made some provisions just in case. There's a security deposit box at the bank in Colorado Springs. It has some money, you'd be surprised how easy it is to make money in the stock market if you know what's gonna do well in the long run, and some journals of my experiences that I thought you may need. I know Sam's gonna want to scold me for using my knowledge of future events to make money, but I had to make sure my son would be well provided for. He's my life. Anyway… Adam can give you the key."

"He's right. Sam's gonna freak." I muttered. AND I hadn't even done anything! Our lives were wacko. Very wacko.

"You shouldn't have to worry about any behavior problems; Adam's always been really mature. It may or may not have something to do with the time-space tangle he seems to be caught up in. Don't really know." Past-me admitted. "If you teach him right and raise him well, Adam can be a serious help to you at the SGC. But he needs a Dad. He needs you. Heck, I need you. And don't worry… you'll be an excellent Dad. I managed, didn't I?"

"Yeah, guess you did, partner." I answered as the video came to an end, the screen becoming gray fuzz. I stood, ejected the tape, and pocketed it. I finally got up the nerve to open the door. What I saw made my eyebrows rise. Adam had a faint look of concentration as he held a flowerpot. The flower was aging quite rapidly. "Whatcha doin', kiddo?"

"Making Col. Carter a flower." He relaxed and the flower stopped growing. "See? It's not hard at all. Daddy said that Teal'c told him that SG-1 got stuck in a time bubble once. They aged lots and lots when like two seconds went by for everyone else. So that's what I do with the flower except slower so I can watch. It's prettier that way."

"It is a very pretty flower. Thank you, Adam." Sam took the flower graciously. Adam beamed. The kid sure was a charmer. Then again, I was his father after all. At his behest, I scooped him up.

"Let's go to the infirmary, 'kay? We'll let Doc Lam take a look at ya. You'll like her, trust me." I started walking, the rest of them trailing behind.

"Anything important on the tape?" Sam asked. I shrugged.

"Just a last request. Not anything life-threatening to us." I reassured her.

"Where'd the other you come up with Adam Bryce as a name?" Daniel wondered out loud. I noted Adam's interest. So I hadn't gotten around to telling who he was named after, huh. I hugged the boy tighter.

"Well, Adam was my copilot who died in the Antarctic mission." I explained.

"And Bryce is the guy who could have been you. The one you were visiting in the hospital and gave that memory device to. You let him see some of your memories, right?" Sam jumped in. I nodded.

"I showed him what I was doing. He would have got a kick out of doing what we do everyday." I reflected. Adam tightened his hold in response. "But it looks like they'll be remembered through you, buddy."

"We can go see them." Adam proposed. I shook my head. He sighed. "I know, I know. It's too dangerous. Daddy said that I couldn't change anything that already had happened. It could mess up the universe."

"Yeah, and we don't want that happening." I slowed as I approached the infirmary. Dr. Lam was busy checking on Corp. Chicanos. The young corporal had broken his leg in a recent mission and was ordered to bed rest in the infirmary. As I entered the room, I called out. "Dr. Lam, once you get done, I've got someone you need to meet."

"Who is this? Where'd he come from?" Dr. Lam stared in shock.

"His name's Adam. Where he came from is a looong story, Doc." I sat Adam down and began to fill her in. This was going to be an interesting next few days. Well, maybe an interesting next few years.

A/N: There may or may not be a sequel to this in the future; it depends on fan approval. This is in my 'Time' universe as opposed to 'Sang Real' universe. (Read Sang Real and Star Girl in SGA to know the difference. Neither relies on the other. Hope you enjoy my "twist" on what happened during and after Continuum.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I've decided to tack this onto Time Twister because of its short length. I'm not as excited about this part as I was by Time Twister, but I felt it would give a little more depth to both Mitchell and Adam. Mitchell has almost no fics that aren't romance with Sam or Vala. I felt he needed a chance to shine.

**Nightmares & Demons**

"Daddy!" A shrill voice screamed. I jerked awake. It took a split second for my brain to recognize the sound, then I sighed. Adam. It had to be a nightmare. I'd gotten lucky so far and the five-year-old had been stoically quiet. That had seemingly changed. Now I was faced with a frustrating conundrum. While most parents would immediately run in to comfort their kid, I was faced with the fact that, though Adam called for his daddy, I wasn't technically his dad. But I was. Serious mess with the whole timeline thing. But, I finally decided, I was the only person who could wake Adam up right now, so I sat up to make the trip to his room down the hall. Before I could move further, however, there was a sudden pop and burst of air. A small body appeared about a foot above the bed and landed with a soft thump. It was a tear-stricken Adam. He crawled over to me and I gathered him up.

"Hey, buddy." I whispered, trying my best to comfort a kid who'd lost the only father he knew a week ago. "Nice trick you got there."

"Daddy told me to always come see him if I was scared or lonely. I know you're not my Daddy, but I had a nightmare." Adam sobbed into my t-shirt. I hugged him a bit tighter. Poor kid was in a rough patch, that was for sure. I was frankly surprised that he hadn't had nightmares sooner. The kid needed someone to look out for him. And since I'd been elected by my alternate self to take care of Adam, I was all he had. Of course the whole mini-fortune in the safe deposit box that had allowed me to buy this modest house and buy Adam the proper clothes and stuff was kind of nice. I'd had enough to get us all started and set some away for future expenses. But all the money in the world couldn't tell me how to comfort Adam when he woke up from a nightmare. I finally laid back and let him curl up beside me. Only when his sobs had died down and his breathing evened out did I allow myself to fall asleep.

"You can come to me any time, Adam." I whispered softly as I drifted off.

* * *

"Like hell you will." I protested the IOA representative's statement, fuming. Adam had managed to sleep the rest of the night through and my morning had been pretty uneventful until this meeting disrupted everything. His suggestion was utterly absurd. "You're not going to take Adam anywhere and especially not for any tests. Carter's running some tests through now and, more importantly, I trust her with him."

"Colonel, we need to assess the subject's abilities and intelligence. We'll have to take it into custody." The IOA idiot replied calmly. Woolsey was looking like a nice guy compared to this prick. I glared at him.

"That's just it, you call him a subject or an it, not a human being named Adam. You and your scientists can back off. The it you're talking about is a five-year-old boy!" I was nearly shouting now. General Landry cleared his throat and I stopped my rant. "Sir, you can't condone this."

"I don't. But the IOA does oversee the stargate program. Perhaps you should call Adam in here so Mr. Davidson can see who we're discussing?" The general offered. I shot another look of contempt at the representative and walked over to the base intercom. I buzzed Sam's office.

"Col. Carter here." She sounded a bit breathless, like she'd been laughing. I mentally grinned. Adam must be having fun.

"Hey, Carter, it's Mitchell. Can you ask Adam to come to General Landry's office?" I offered no explanation, but allowed some of the stress of the situation leak into my voice.

"Yes sir, he'll be right up." She cut the intercom off. I nodded to Landry.

"While we wait, perhaps you can clarify your relationship to this 'Adam'?" The representative began. I bit back a chuckle.

"What wait?" I asked. His eyebrows furrowed. Right about that time Adam popped into the office next to me. "Adam can control space as well as time. Hey, kiddo."

"Hi ya, Colonel. Whatcha doin'?" Adam greeted me as he raised his arms. I smiled as I lifted him up and settled him on my hip. At this rate Adam was gonna be spoiled rotten. "Me 'n Carter were playing with time fields. I'm learning lots of cool stuff!"

"That's great, buddy. Hey, Adam, this is Mr. Davidson. He wanted to meet you." I motioned to Mr. Davidson. The man sniffed at my presumption of him wanting to meet Adam, but watched my interaction with 'the subject' with interest. Adam, in turn, looked over Mr. Davidson. His eyes narrowed and his small face scrunched up as he considered the representative. Finally, he let out a dry humph and turned back to me.

"Let me guess. IOA?" He let out an exasperated sigh. "Daddy told me they always stuck their nose where it didn't belong."

"Yes, well." Mr. Davidson cleared his throat as I bit back a chuckle. Adam had a certain amount of unrestrained bluntness that he might have, possibly, gotten from me. Finally Mr. Davidson decided to ignore the last statement. "And just who is your father?"

"He doesn't know much, does he?" Adam looked at us quizzically. Before I could explain the situation in detail, something the IOA guy hadn't given us a chance to do previously, Adam answered Mr. Davidson's question with his own sort of logic. "The Colonel is. Or he would have been if Daddy hadn't made it so he wouldn't have to do what Daddy did to save the _whole_ universe."

"Huh?" Mr. Davidson stared at us both, trying to wrap his head around what Adam just said. I spoke up quickly, attempting to avoid the difficult questions at least in front of Adam.

"Buddy, you better go back to Carter's lab for now, 'kay?" I set him down as he nodded reluctantly. There was a flicker of concentration in his eyes, then he was gone. "Now do you see why you need to back off, Mr. Davidson? That 'subject' you talked about is a five-year-old boy who sees me as the closest thing to a father he's got. He's just a scared and lonely little kid, not some top secret weapon. You can't just whisk him away to do tests. If you didn't notice, he can control time and space with a second's thought."

"But the possibilities?" Mr. Davidson argued.

"Are being explored by Col. Carter. She's smart enough to see what he can do without traumatizing the poor kid. She'll let you know what she finds out. Meanwhile, do you really want to tell the five-year-old who can control time and space that he can't stay with me? 'Cause I'm not letting him go without a fight." I glared at him. He shifted under my gaze and opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by an alarm that began blaring. We immediately looked to the door, just in time to see Sgt. Harriman run up.

"Sirs, there's a contact on the scanners. A ship has appeared at the edge of the solar system with no warning and is moving extremely fast. It's course and speed will bring it here in less than ten minutes." He reported breathlessly. I grimaced.

"The Daedalus?" I asked quickly. He shook his head. "Still five days out on its Atlantis supply run. Odyssey is busy patrolling for Ori ships and all other ships are out of range. The Chinese Sun Tzu is about an hour away and it's the closest. The George Hammond is over a day out. The intruder ship gave no warning." Harriman answered grimly.

"Scramble some F-302s out of Area 51. Get some eyes on whatever's coming at us." Landry ordered. Our options were severely limited with the warships out of contact. We'd never anticipated an attack slipping through the Asgard sensors. A fact that was sure to be rectified if we survived. "Get Col. Carter up here. See if she can establish communications with the alien ship. We don't know it's hostile yet."

"Yes, sir." Harriman rushed off to fulfill his orders. I followed the general into the control room. We waited tensely as a technician adjusted the view screen. What we saw shocked us. The ship was sleek but sported some obvious weapons.

"It doesn't look like they're here for tea, sir." I pointed out. General Landry frowned and nodded. The ten minutes passed quickly and soon the odd ship was positioned in high orbit above the SGC. Carter, leaving Adam behind in her lab with strict instructions to stay put, had shown up a few minutes ago, but the intruder was not responding any hails. I gritted my teeth in frustration. Who was up there? A sudden flash of light answered my question. What looked suspiciously similar to Asgard beaming technology deposited three humanoid beings into the embarkation room. I headed down the stairs, grabbing a P90 along the way, to help the guards and to find out just who had shown up so abruptly. I stared at their robes and unnaturally tall forms. "Who are you?"

"Your new rulers: the Sarangi." The leader replied cheerfully. "We bring peace and technology in exchange for leadership of your world."

"I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place then. Our world's not for sale, at least not the last time I checked." I took in their false happiness and severe superiority complex. They were like Goa'uld on happy drugs.

"No one refuses the Sarangi. We travel over the vastness of space bringing peace and prosperity." The spokesperson insisted. I raised my eyebrows. If something sounded too good to be true, it was.

"Perhaps if you had contacted us in a polite manner we would be open to a trade alliance, but we don't do slavery. In fact, we're all about freedom." I wasn't sure what these strangers were planning, but my hand stayed steady on the trigger.

"You will be a part of the Sarangi empire. Do not force us to discipline your world already." The leader warned. I bristled with indignation. These guys were just lucky that it would be another 45 minutes before the Sun Tzu could come and blow their puny little ship out of the sky.

"How do you plan on taking over our world with one little ship?" I questioned. The leader paused, then began to smile. Uh-oh.

"Perhaps a demonstration." He motioned to his companions and one of them easily raised a hand towards one of the guards. A burst of light flared and left an elderly man standing where a 20-year-old had been. It was eerily reminiscent of the Wraith victim pictures that had been sent from Atlantis. Several of us began firing at the now hostile aliens, but no sign of damage was seen. It was like the bullets just vanished. "We clearly have superior technology. I t would not be wise to oppose us."

"Thanks, but I'm afraid my superiors are gonna have to get back to you on that." I responded sarcastically, buying time for the Sun Tzu. I wasn't sure what weapons the alien ship had, but we did have Asgard energy weapons that should even out the score. I was about to continue my stalling campaign when a burst of air alerted me of a new arrival: Adam.

"Colonel, my head hurts and I'm sneezing lots. What's going on?" Adam sounded upset. I reached down to scoot him behind me, silently scolding him for showing up in such a dangerous situation. Adam merely cocked his head to the right, stepped forward, and stared at the people/creatures. "Oh!"

"What?" The Sarangi were watching him closely, trying to figure out just how he appeared out of thin air. Adam sneezed loudly and frowned.

"Stop that stuff. It makes me sneeze. You're doing it all wrong." Adam ordered. When they didn't seem to understand what he meant he clapped his hands. Instantly a slight shimmer fell around their group. Their eyes widened and I took this as a sign their shield was now down. The same one who had aged the guard raised his hand angrily, but Adam let out an indignant shout and the creature vanished. "You leave my new daddy alone! You people are mean! Go away!"

"What are you?" The leader actually sounded fearful now. He spoke quickly in to a communication device, or at least what looked like one anyway, and the beam swept them up. Adam had a furious little glare on his face as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Stop that! I said, GO! AWAY!" He yelled and then raised a hand and brought it down in a chopping motion. Finally he relaxed. I handed my P90 to a marine and walked up to Adam. "I didn't like them. They made my head hurt."

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked as I looked him over. He didn't seem hurt. He nodded. I finally let myself get angry. "What did you think you were doing, facing strange aliens like that? Didn't I teach you anything in the past?"

"I'm sorry, Colonel. They were mean and they were gonna turn you all old and stuff." Adam protested. "But don't worry I took care of them."

"Right." I looked around slowly. Several marines were getting a gurney for the now aged gate guard. A tug at my pants leg prompted me to pick up Adam. "What exactly did you do to them, kiddo?"

"I sent them away. That man isn't supposed to be old, Colonel." Adam pointed out. I walked over to the marine, carrying Adam. Suddenly Adam reached down and ruffled the man's hair. "Daddy always told me that I'd always be okay. Don't worry, you'll be okay too."

"Thanks, kid." The marine, who I finally identified as a Sgt. Handover, coughed weakly and tried to grin. Adam's hand suddenly patted his head once and then stopped. To everyone's amazement the man seemed to melt. His whole body shifted and, well for the lack of a better term, youngified. Soon we were looking at the twenty-year-old version of Sgt. Hanover. "Woah!"

"See?" Adam grinned, obviously proud of himself. "Everything's all better!"

"Sweet!" The sergeant exclaimed, sitting up. He was smiling now, ecstatic at the turn of events. He looked at his hands in wonder and then rubbed his face. "I'm young again! Sir."

"Congratulations, Sgt. Handover. Thank you, Adam. That was a really good thing you did for the sergeant." I smiled at him, but inwardly worried about what he'd done with the hostiles. I knew he was extremely intelligent, but I was still concerned that he didn't fully understand the impact of what he had just done. Better yet, did the IOA understand? I quickly sent him back to Carter's lab and headed back to the control room to head off the numerous questions I knew were waiting for me.

"Colonel?" General Landry raised an eyebrow. I shrugged.

"Evidently he sent them away. I'm not sure how far, but we ought to get at least one warship stationed in orbit in case they come back. It seems they were manipulating temporal technology and it annoyed Adam. He stopped it. Can't really blame the kid, he saved our asses." I turned to Mr. Davidson. "Do you understand why he needs to be raised properly? And by me? He's extremely powerful, but he's just a kid and I'm the closest thing to a father he has. He's gonna be more than annoyed if you try to take him away from me. And now you've seen what happens when he gets annoyed. Do you really want to piss him off? The IOA is going to have to trust me. I can take care of him. And I will. One day he'll be a serious asset to this place, but until then, I remain his legal guardian. Got it?"

"I will bring your argument before the committee." Mr. Davidson paused as he looked at me. "From what I've seen, Adam idolizes you. It will be my recommendation to leave him where he is."

"Thank you." I grinned slightly. Maybe he wasn't quite so bad after all. Either that or he was scared spitless by the display Adam had just given everyone. Whatever the reason, Adam was mine and it looked like it would stay that way.

***

A/N: Hopefully that wasn't too terrible. I'm open to feedback, but not flames. Any future stories (if any) will require outside inspiration as my muse is a bit dry. What do you think?


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